Hi Everyone! Happy November! If you’re in the US, I hope Halloween treated you well, and the run-up to November is not too stressful. I know for me November is one of the most jam-packed months of the year. This is unfortunate, because it means I rarely get to do NaNoWriMo. The one time I did get to do it properly, it was an absolutely fabulous experience, and produced The Singing Shore. I don’t know when I’ll get to do NaNoWriMo again, but I’m hoping it won’t be too far in the future. In the meantime, I’ve been working on the audiobook and illustrated version of The Midnight Land, and considering my next book. More info about that below, but first! I’m participating in a BookSweeps book giveaway! Click here for a chance to win 29 fantasy books (including mine), plus all kinds of swag!

So I’m planning to share some snippets from the audiobook of The Midnight Land soon, although I may not release the whole thing until I do that Kickstarter I keep thinking about…I’m also thinking about what story to write next. For those of you who’ve read The Zemnian Series books, I’m contemplating doing something from Vladya’s point of view. She’s a kind of anti-hero/antagonist in the earlier books, but we keep getting hints of redemption for her–if she can learn to walk the bright path rather than the dark path. In The Singing Shore she takes quite a number of steps down the dark path, but a chance of heroism is given to her at the end. Does she take it? Can she make that leap from the dark to the bright path? I’m not sure, but I’m thinking of exploring that at some point. 

There’s still a lot I have to work out about that story, but one source of inspiration is the song “Galdra”by the band Faun, featuring Lindy-Fay Hella of Wardruna. I’m a bit of a fan of this new neo-pagan folk-rock, and this song, with its Odin-esque motifs, is a favorite of mine. So I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be important. What do you think? Is a one-eyed sorceress of questionable goodness a fitting subject for my next book? Here’s the video for your listening and viewing enjoyment, and as always, happy reading!